Roving feeding mechanism for knitting machines



g- 1952 H. 0. GRANT v ROVING FEEDING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES T WM R E A R o H..

ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 5, 1952 ROVING FEEDING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES Horace C. Grant, Atlanta, Ga.,

Cotton Mills, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.,

of Georgia assignor to Egan a corporation Application September 3,1948, Serial No. 47,675

3 Claims.

Patent No. 1,816,416 to Willingham describes a knitting machine for producing a fabric strip made up of successive transverse plies of roving, the successive plies being knitted together and to a backing of burlap as they are assembled and fed through the machine. In that patent there is but one roving feed guide which serves to feed the roving for all the plies and, therefore, the product is composed of a plurality of similar plies. However, for certain purposes it is desirable that certain of the plies be of different characteristics (density, diameter, etc.) than the other and my present invention has for its object to so modify the machine of the Willingham patent as to produce this result.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which corresponding parts are designated by corresponding marks of reference:

Figure 1 is a front view of a machine according to the said patent, having my invention applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a vertical fore and aft section on the line 2-2 throughthe machine shown in Figure 1.

As in the Willingham patent, the roving is laid down on top of the guide-way 2 and knitted together by the front and rear eating needles 5 and 6. In my improved machine two roving feeders 42 and 43 are employed to lay the roving on top of the guide, these feeders delivering roving of different characteristics and vertically reciproeach being capable of movement from end to end of the guide frame. For this purpose each feeder is mounted on its corresponding carrier 42a--43a sliding on a bar 44 extending across the machine from side to side. One of these feeders, namely, 42a, which delivers the usual roving, may be driven, by being shoved in one direction-by a driver [2 moved on the bar 44 by the pitman -l l and being drawn in the other direction when its pivoted latch I3 is in engagement with the pin I2a on the driver. The other feeder 43a is directly mounted on a latch member 431) pivoted to the second carrier 43a, which last named latch is adapted to be locked to the driver by the pin 12d, and when so locked projects past the driver, so that at times the two roving feeders may be brought close together.

With this construction and presuming that the parts are in the position shown in Figure 2, the roving feed carrier 42a supplying the roving generally employed may be shifted to the right so that its latch l3 engages the pin 12a on the driver. When so engaged it will partake of the movement of the driver across the machine, laying down its roving on top of the roving guide frame, as in the Willingham patent, the second roving feed carrier 430, being at such times at the right hand end of the bar 44 and beyond the right hand end of the guide frame 2. However, if it is desired to lay down a roving of different character, the carrier 42a is unlatched from the driver and shifted to the left; i. e., to the position shown in the drawings, and the carrier 43a is slid so as to engage its latch 432) with the pin l2a on the driver; whereupon the roving laid down will be that supplied by the roving feeder 43.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a machine for manufacturing pads including successive transverse plies of roving knitted together and to a common backing, the combination of a guide frame, two movable ring guides each independent of the other for delivering selectively roving to the guide frame, a reciprocating driver located to one side of the guide frame, latch mechanism associated with each ring guide cooperating selectively with complementary latching means carried by said driver whereby said ring guides and driver may be connected and disconnected at will.

2. In a machine for manufacturing pads'ineluding successive transverse plies of roving knitted together and to a common backing, the combination of a guide frame, two movable ring guides each independent of the other for delivering selectively roving to the guide frame, a reciprocating driver common to said ring guides and located to one side and in front of said guide frame, latch mechanism associated with each ring guide cooperating selectively with complementary latching means carried by said driver whereby said ring guides and driver may be connected and disconnected at will.

3. In a machine for manufacturing pads including successive transverse plies of roving knitted together and to a common backing, the combination of a guide frame, two movable ring guides each independent of the other for delivering selectively roving to the guide frame, a reciprocating driver located to one side of the guide frame, a latch pin carried by said driver, latch mechanism associated with each ring guide cooperating selectively with said latch pin, whereby said ring guides and driver may be connected and disconnected at will.

' HORACE C. GRANT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 539,558 Sumner May 21, 1895 1,706,426 Vorck Mar. 26, 1929 1,816,416 Willingham July 28, 1931 2,200,280 Klumpp May 14, 1940 2,277,797 Strzalkowski Mar. 31, 1942 

